P1080947 A folk rock concert in Vilnius Old Town

Marga muzika ("Multicolored Music") -- a cross-cultural folk rock band that plays Lithuanian, Latvian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and Jewish folk songs, or at least popsified versions thereof -- performs at a pub in Vilnius Old Town.

P1080966 A folk rock concert in Vilnius Old Town

Marga muzika ("Multicolored Music") -- a cross-cultural folk rock band that plays Lithuanian, Latvian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and Jewish folk songs, or at least popsified versions thereof -- performs at a pub in Vilnius Old Town.

P1080957 Concert-goers

A girl with embroidered top, lacy hose, pacifist jewelry and green highlights, and a guy at a folk rock concert at a pub "Artistai" ("Artists") in Vilnius Old Town.

P1080961 A ghostly little girl

dances by as concertgoers watch the stage at a folk rock concert at a pub "Artistai" ("Artists") in Vilnius Old Town.

P1080974 "Marga muzika" ("Multicolored Music")

Covering their heads with shawls, the women of a folk rock band "Marga muzika" ("Multicolored Music") perform a humorous Ukrainian song about a woman whose husband beats her in order to "teach" her how to live. Creepy...

P1080976 A guy filming the folk rock concert

His hippie image is marred by the fact that his t-shirt contains what is a homophobic connotation in Lithuanian culture.

P1080984 Headbangers at a folk rock concert

spin their hair in circles.

P1080990 Headbangers start a circle dance

and pull the audience into it .

P1080959 Girls at a folk rock concert

at a pub "Artistai" ("Artists") in Vilnius Old Town.

P1090040 My newest nephew

7-month-old Kasparas

P1090043 My brother's three sons

from baby to teen

P1090053 Sister-in-law and nephew

My brother's wife Egle with their 7-month-old baby boy Kasparas

P1090083 A dybbuk in a historical Jewish neighborhood

A dybbuk we met on the tour of haunted places of Vilnius (my family's birthday present to me). A dybbuk is a Jewish ghost that, unlike Christian ghosts, does not roam the Earth, but seeks to attach itself to someone else's body. This one was sitting in a

P1090046 My sister's husband and son

at my birthday party

P1090054 Potato pie

made by my sister for my birthday party

P1090061 Blowing out the candles

on my birthday cake (made by my sister). Has it come to this -- the candles on the cake represent decades, not years!

P1090065 My family and I

Left to right: my sister, brother, his wife, their newest baby, my sister's son, and me on my birthday

P1090068 My sister, her husband, son

For my birthday, my family took me on a tour of haunted places of Vilnius. My sister (left), her husband, son, and the tour guide start the tour at the focal point of Vilnius Old Town, the Cathedral square (that white building to the left is the Cathedral